I Live For You, Itachi
by caca00
Summary: This was a one-shot written for my character Phoenix and Itachi and I thought they did a great job, so I am publishing it for your enjoyment and I'm thinking about turning it into a story


This was a one-shot created for my character Phoenix and Itachi. I thought it came out really good and I'm tempted to turn it into a story, but hey let me know if you think I should. Thanx again XxmychemjerseybabeXx you rock! XD

Prologue: All I See is Red and Black

"Who would have thought that she would leave?" Kakashi spoke out loud, starring down at the newest entry to Konoha's Bingo Book, Dragon Phoenix. "I know, but apparently, _he_ found her or she found him, either way she is now a missing-nin and with her abilities, she is S-Rank." Tsunade said as she closed her eyes and placed her hands in front of her face. Kakashi sighed, "Well, I'll inform the others. I pray we don't have to fight against her, but if she has been reunited with _him_, then it doesn't look good for us." Shaking her head she hardened her eyes, "Then she will die too, if it comes down to it." Kakashi nodded. Turning the copy ninja left the office leaving Tsunade to her thoughts. _What were you thinking Phoenix? All you've worked for, your friends, was it all in vain?_

Well you know my name so maybe I should fill you in on some other information. Yes, I am a former Leaf konuchi, ANBU rank. A trade mark of mine is I wear my blonde hair up with two poisoned needles, my blue-green eyes glow brightly when I raise my chakra to high levels and I love the color black, it fits me so perfectly. My past was a normal one, I guess. I was orphaned at the age of 7, my father and older brother died in a mission, my mother died giving birth to me. I made a vow to become the greatest konuchi alive, feh child's play. I know your thinking, 'what a bitch' well honestly, yes I am. Because my personality has changed from that sweet, kind natured girl to the feisty, smart mouthed, strong-minded woman I am today, but I guess we should start at the beginning, shouldn't we?

When I close my eyes all I see is red and black. The things that dance across the fringes of my thoughts are blurs of red and black; the ones I remember seeing when I wore a young girl's clothes. Blue eyed, toughened from being orphaned, and hopelessly in love with red and black; his red eyes and black hair. I saw power in his superior stare, grace in his movements, and something sweet hidden behind his emotionless face. I was in love with uchiha itachi.

I kicked the branch and it snapped like a twig. Destroying wildlife wasn't the best form of training but it sure was a good form of therapy. I was channeling all of my emotion that had built up over the years into my training. Even though in reality I was staying in konoha, inside I was running away. I was running away from the fact that I still loved itachi. But we were different people now. I was no longer the orphaned teen who dreamt of love. No, I had made something of myself, I was the strongest member of ANBU and was a threat to all opposing forces, and as far as itachi goes, he was a memory. And you can't be in love with the past…..that's a lie.

There was a silent bond between itachi and me. Since we first saw each other I could tell there was something special, and even though he was like a stone, I knew he could to. I trained his brother when he couldn't, I would train with him and we got stronger, together. We fell in love after a while though he had never verbally told me so. Later we joined ANBU together, but then my fairytale started to crumble. Itachi became secretive and we grew slowly apart. I felt as though all the reasons I had for being happy were carelessly ripped out from under my feet. Then the massacre happened. Itachi, my itachi, the role model for his brother, the only person I ever let love me, killed his entire clan and left without me. The last thing he said was "it is better if you don't know. Forget all about me, I never existed."

I had done enough training for one day. My neglected home was probably screaming for me to come back. I trudged slowly there, hoping the day would disappear with my footsteps….it didn't. I had lived my life with no emotion, I was a hard stone. It seemed that everything I had worked for as a kid, becoming an ANBU member, being respected by all for my chakra manipulation, changing from an orphan to a ninja, meant nothing since I had lost the one thing I had ever _really_ wanted…love. I crashed on my bed and slammed my eyes shut. Dreams were coming…a conclusion I have come to is…you can't feel pain when you're dreaming.

My dream went back to a scene I try not to remember, it was difficult to cope with. Itachi and I had been on a mission together before we knew each other's feelings for the other. Everything was running smoothly until we came in contact with a rogue ninja who wanted to steal the scrolls we possessed. He had a wicked smile and a cackle that sent shivers up my spine. Not only was he powerful, but he was manipulative. The odds were stacked against him but he was then joined by another ninja. I took a large blow to the stomach and a kunai to my left leg. My chakra was still high so I could have healed myself but his blades were laced with poison that quickly entered my bloodstream. I dropped to the ground, unable to stand and Itachi's eyes darted to me quickly. The other ninja tried to come and finish me off but itachi stepped in the way, "come a step closer to her and see what happens." The ninja grinned and put a foot forward as if expecting Itachi's words to have been a bluff. He was entirely wrong….With speed I didn't know existed Itachi had shoved a kunai through the ninja's heart. He slumped to the ground and Itachi mumbled "I told you so."

I felt like I had to do something since he had just saved my life so I gathered all of my energy and prepared a chakra arrow and bow to shoot at the other ninja. My fingers trembled and I had almost released it but Itachi looked over with shocked eyes. He said "you are in no condition to shoot that, re absorb it now." I pondered the thought but was not going to be weak and surrender, so I grinned and released the arrow in a flash. It swiftly pierced the other ninja right in the middle of his chest. I re-collapsed, feeling the full affects of the poison, and then my world went black. I awoke later in a room with white walls, obviously the hospital. Itachi was sitting beside my bed and I smiled at him but he just gave me a hard look and said "that arrow you shot earned you two extra days in the hospital; maybe you should listen to me next time." Though he appeared to be stern, he softly touched my face with his fingers. I only smiled and slipped back into sleep, thinking about how cute he is when he is protective.

(Back to reality) A strange feeling woke me up, like someone was inside my house. Living alone for so long had made me very aware of the atmosphere of my home. I pulled back my covers and slowly got up. Then I noticed something had fallen off of me. It shined up at me from my floor and I cautiously picked it up. What a strange thing it was, a ring with a blood red stone and a kanji symbol. After shaking the sleep off of me and inspecting the ring more closely, I realized it was an akatsuki ring. "why would there be an akatsuki ring in my house? I don't know anyone in the….wait. no. no… no! don't let yourself think those things. He is never coming back." I hadn't even realized I was thinking out loud.

"Who is never coming back?" a sly voice asked with interest. I jumped but soon recovered and located the voice. A man stood across the room in an akatsuki cloak and playing a mischievous grin across his face. He looked to be half shark. " I would advise you to get out of my house." I said calmly but with edge. "I do believe it was an order to come here and well….orders are orders." He said politely but with an eerie grin. "do not come any closer." I commanded. "oh he said you would be a feisty one. good thing I have back up." Before I realized it someone had grabbed me from behind. "let go of me right now!" I blared.

I pulled my arms violently and yelled obscenities. These actions yielded nothing useful. The shark faced man laughed and said, "its not use. Just relax, we won't hurt you." yeah a pair of s-ranked criminals won't hurt me….I thought fast and held my head to surrender.

When he and the blue haired ninja were convinced that I no longer wanted to fight, I went into action. I formed several chakra arrows behind my back and shot them quickly. The two ninja were pinned to the wall. I threw several poison needles at the blue haired female that immediately paralyzed her. The other ninja came at me with his chakra eating sword which had devoured the arrows. I increased my speed by a bit and dodged the powerful weapon. He swiftly hit my leg and I slowed enough for him to hit my arm as well. "And the leader said you were powerful, your moves are as simple as a genin's." he spat. I simply laughed along with him. Time to raise the bar…. I produced a surge of chakra from my heart and my eyes brightened from the chakra that was ready to explode. Right now I contained more chakra than 150 men. He was in no position to mess with me.

In an unearthly blur I slapped down a roll of sutra paper, bit my thumb, and drew two daggers and one metal pole. I formed a chakra destroying poison in my mouth and licked all three weapons. I was moving so fast that the other ninja looked as if he was in slow motion.

I kicked the shark man against the wall and shoved the two daggers through his hands. Before he could blink I picked up the pole and was inches from his heart when I was swept into an unfamiliar genjutsu and everything went dark. The last thing I heard was a voice whispering "still as powerful as ever… and beautiful…"

I was kept in a cell. Chained to a wall I remained for at least three days. I had memorized the number of bricks in the wall and now knew that cockroaches did not bite, considering they had crawled about me for some time. My dreams were filled with memories of Itachi. How he would always tell me that I was reckless, and then he would kiss me with that hard expression that made me melt. I thought about escaping…it was impossible. I thought about suicide…but the thought that outside my door, right now, could be standing the essence of red and black that I used to love so dearly, kept me alive. My lips were cracked and my face was dirty; I hadn't eaten in forever it seemed. I remained tough though, I sustained the tough girl image I had always held... ever so often I would hear the door knob turn but the person never opened the door.

Finally the door did open. I expected to see an unfamiliar face ready to kill me or perhaps bring me food if I was in the mood for optimism. My eyes grew wide and started to brim with tears when I saw HIS face in the door way. My rough, uncaring image slipped from my grasp and I tried to crawl to him but was too weak. He looked down at me with no emotion. That is when I crumbled. I had held everything inside for so long. Though I didn't understand, I accepted his absence. He had left me speechless and now wasn't even going to acknowledge me…. I fell to the cold ground and sobbed. It seemed like ages that I cried on that cold floor. I shrieked and pounded the ground like an angered toddler, but I wasn't mad. I was saddened more than I could ever imagine. I had nothing left, no love, no village, not even something as simple as chakra. And the person I used to love, despite his stone cold exterior, was four feet away from me and i didn't even have the strength to crawl to him.

Still with no emotion, Itachi walked over to me and picked me up off the ground. he pulled my limp body to him and held me close as I sobbed and sobbed into his cloak. Finally I stopped crying…..shedding that many years of tears took a while. He grabbed my slender and now bloody hand and removed the red jeweled ring I had shoved on my finger in the haste of my fight with kisame. He wiped it off on his cloak and put it on his own finger. "I see you found the message I left you." he said, looking down at me. I couldn't muscle out a reply so I just gazed up in wonder of what he meant. He understood my response and said, " I left it there to warn you that kisame and konan were coming. I suppose I just wasn't quick enough. Then I had to come save kisame from you. I never thought I would live to see that day. You always were a feisty one." I smiled meekly and closed my eyes. Softly I spoke, " I guess feisty wasn't g..good enough then…" "no… you were everything I wanted. You were the little spark in my life. You were caring and never gave up. When you smiled it seemed like the sun did too and the world began to sing and light up around me. it's as if everyone was saying, there she is…. Take her before she's gone. I was selfish about you, you know?" I shook my head and gazed up at him. "I never wanted anyone else to have you. I didn't care if you were reckless, never planned ahead, and overworked yourself, you were mine. But then I got this mission, I had to kill my family before they destroyed themselves. I knew what was best for you, you had so much potential, so much to offer this world… So I left, hoping someone better for you would come along and treat you better than I had." He said with sad eyes, but his mouth was still in its constant, hard line. " I wanted no one else itachi… when you left I knew you weren't coming back, because you always kept to your word. But that is something I couldn't do, I couldn't forget that you existed, pretend you were never there…" I said in a slightly raspy whisper. "it is my fault this has happened to you, I should have never brought you back to the base, but the leader ordered me to. He threw you in this cell and I was so tempted to come in and at least look at you…but I stopped myself. Finally I couldn't help it and here I am." I smiled with what little I had and touched his face. " itachi, I am so glad you're here. After all of this time…" "I know I made you feel like I didn't love you, but truth be known I loved you more than life itself. I think so often back to the way you used to stick your tongue out of the side of your mouth when you were concentrating, or when you would smile at me, inside hoping that just for once, I might smile back. I miss that so much. I have always loved you, and I always will." I looked with wide eyes and then replied, "not a day has gone by that I haven't loved you, and not a day will." With that Itachi smiled, for the first time, he smiled, and it was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.

It didn't matter anymore that my lips were cracked or that my face was dirty…. Itachi leaned in for a kiss and I met him half way. It was the most breath taking kiss I had ever received, my lips burned and tingled and every emotion possible flew through my body as I leaned in against him. His hands gently grabbed my face and I leaned back, dizzy from the kiss. I collapsed against him and snuggled into his chest. it didn't matter that I was in a lair of s-ranked criminals, it didn't matter anymore that my limbs were bloody When I closed my eyes all I saw was red and black, the things that danced across my thoughts were red and black; his red eyes and black hair. the only thing that mattered was that I was with him, forever in love with red and black

Breaking away from the kiss, I looked him in the eyes, "So…where does this leave us?" Itachi looked back at me, running the pad of his thumb down the length of my cheek, "where do you want it to?" My heart was screaming to stay by his side, but my head was screaming, what about the village? He must have sensed my unease because he leaned in and captured my lips once more, all thoughts fleeing from my mind. Itachi pulled back and I whimpered at the loss of contact, opening my eyes to see his face, once again set at unemotional. "My place is by your side. I am nothing without you, all these years I trained my mind to try and forget you, but now that I know how you feel I can't….I can't live without you." Staring into his eyes I could see his happiness at my response. I smiled shyly and asked him, "What about the organization?" Itachi's face hardened once more, "leave that to me." Itachi stood bringing me up with him, picking me up bridal style he turned and left the cell. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I couldn't help the sense of security I felt being held to him. Pressing the side of my face to his chest I soon found my self drifting off to sleep by the thump of his heart and the warmth of his body.

Itachi walked down the hall with Phoenix draped in his arms. He passed by the room that Kisame and some of the other members were sitting, not bothering to stop he kept going even after Kisame called out to him. Reaching the door to his room he managed to open it with out waking the sleeping girl. Closing the door with his foot he walked over to the bed and laid her down. She immediately rolled onto her side burying her face in his pillow. Itachi let a small smile grace his features, reaching a hand out he lightly brushed a strand of blonde from her face. _She looks beautiful. So peaceful as she sleeps._ Trailing his eyes down her face he looked over her body, it was covered in various wounds, most she received in her cell. Sighing inwardly he bent down and lightly placed a kiss to her temple. She smiled. Turning to leave her, he paused at the door his hand resting on the knob, _is this right? Should I just take her back?_ He turned and looked at her sleeping form once more, _No. She's mine._ And with that he left the room, headed to Pein's office.


End file.
